Men's Basketball | 1/25/2014 11:16:00 PM
Box Score
North Newton, Kan. – Following a tight first half, 29-23, McPherson took over in the second for a 73-48 victory against the Threshers of Bethel College. Mac moves to .500 on the year at 11-11, 4-6 versus conference teams.
The 'Dogs started on a 6-0 run and then maintained their advantage throughout the half with the largest margin being 15. After being down 24-9, Bethel went on a 12-2 run to get within five with three minutes to play in the period. MC went into the locker room ahead 29-23.
McPherson put in 11-of-27 from the floor for a 40.7 field goal percentage; they missed all six of their three-point attempts but made 7-of-8 from the charity stripe. BC had a rough outing in the early goings of the half and closed it out with a 26.32 shooting percentage, 10-of-38; they counted 2-of-12 from deep and 2-of-5 from the foul line.
Devirous Johnson (Brooklyn, N.Y.) gobbled up 12 rebounds in the first half.
Slowly but surely, MC started building their lead in the opening minutes of the second period, getting ahead by 10+ five minutes in; their advantage extended out to 16 before a run by Bethel pulled it back to nine a few possessions later. The 'Dogs recovered and kept the score margin around 10 for the next several minutes. A scoring explosion for Mac in the closing minutes pushed the lead to 20 and they coasted the rest of the way to a 73-48 triumph.
Despite going 0-of-4 from distance, McPherson made 50% of their field goals, going 15-of-30 in the game's second 20 minutes; only 14 of the team's 23 free throws went in. The Threshers scored on 10-of-32 with 1-of-7 falling from beyond the arc; just a 3-of-9 showing from the stripe was recorded by Bethel in the second half.
MC closed out the contest shooting 45.6% from the floor, 26-of-57, missing all 10 of their three-point attempts; they converted 21-of-31 from the foul stripe for a 67.7 percentage. 53 rebounds were pulled down by the 'Dogs with just nine coming off the offensive glass. They logged 17 turnovers, 10 in the first half, 15 assists, six steals and a block.
Johnson won the rebounding title with his 20 boards, 18 came on the defensive side of the court; he scored 13 for another double-double on 6-of-10 from the field and 1-of-1 from the stripe.
Brian (BJ) Johnson (Kansas City, Kan.) scored a game-high 21 points, making 8-of-20 field goals and 5-of-8 free throws; he also dished out a team-high four assists, tying him with D. Johnson and
TJ Grant (South Bend, Ind.).
Joey Powers (Welch, Okla.) and
Erik DeRoo (Tyler, Texas) each tallied nine points with DeRoo scoring seven of his from the foul line.
Mac will take on the 13-7, 7-3 Spires of the University of Saint Mary on January 29
th; the Wednesday night home contest is set for 8:00 p.m. (CT)
